Problem making changes to Normal template in Word 2007

[toaster]

Hi--I hope someone can help with this, as it's driving me crazy! I've been
using Office 2007 at work for some time now, but I've just loaded it on to my
new netbook at home, an HP Mini running Windows XP (same OS as work). I have
been trying to change the font for my Normal template, but I can seem to get
Word to save the changes. I can open a new document with the changes, but
when I close Word, the changes disappear and it reverts to the default Normal
template.

I've tried making the changes in several different ways (as suggested by the
Help menus), but nothing seems to stick. I would just go into the
Normal.dotm document and modify it directly, but I can't find it on my
computer--it's not where it should be (again, according to the help menu,
where it is on my work computer, as well as the results of the a
search)--it's like it doesn't exist!

Anyone know what could be going on here? I can't believe I could get this
to work fine at work but not at home...please help!

 

[Jay Freedman]

The preferred way to change the default font is to open the Fonts dialog
(Ctrl+Shift+F or right-click some Normal-style text and choose Font from the
context menu), change the setting, and click the Default button at the
bottom of the dialog.

If this doesn't stick, you may have either an add-in of some sort that
prevents saving of Normal.dotm, or a damaged template. Are you having
trouble getting Word to save other settings that should be in Normal.dotm?

If you took the standard defaults when you installed Office on the netbook,
the Normal.dotm file is in a hidden folder that you can find most easily by
pasting this into the address bar of the "My Computer" program and pressing
Enter:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Templates

This assumes you haven't changed the setting for the User Templates location
in the dialog at Office button > Word Options > Advanced > File Locations.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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